CTERA launches AI-assisted data archiving amid low active storage usage

CTERA has introduced a new AI-assisted data archiving solution, prompted by company research revealing that only 4.4% of enterprise storage capacity is actively used. This highlights significant cost and AI-readiness challenges stemming from vast amounts of cold data. The new solution aims to help organizations manage this inactive data effectively, as first reported by Channel Insider.

CTERA's research analyzed over 16 petabytes of data, finding that 83.1% of stored capacity resides in files untouched for over a year, and 88% of individual files have not been accessed in the same period. The new Data Archiving Solution integrates CTERA InsightAI with CTERA Archive to identify inactive data, assess its business value, and migrate it to lower-cost storage while maintaining governance and accessibility.

The company views this as an opportunity for MSPs and channel partners to offer data discovery and archival management as a recurring managed service. CEO Oded Nagel emphasized that while cost is a primary concern, AI readiness is becoming a more urgent driver, as feeding AI models with stale data hinders trustworthy results. The InsightAI component uses AI to infer file value based on metadata, age, and usage patterns, providing recommendations rather than automated actions, thus keeping IT teams in control of the archiving process.

Source: Channel Insider